They are testing a viral therapy for a lethal lung cancer, U. S. researchers have said.

According to the reports, researchers at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have begun enrolling up to 55 patients with squamous non-small cell lung cancer for a clinical trial of the viral treatment, Reolysin, used in combination with two chemotherapy drugs.

Dr. Alain Mita said in a statement, "The study offers new hope for this group of patients with lung cancer."

It was further reported that Reolysin, an experimental treatment derived from a reovirus that replicates so prolifically in a cancer cell it causes the cell to burst, directly kills many types of cancer cells but leaves normal cells unharmed and works synergistically with other cancer therapies.

The trial, part of a broad collaboration with Oncolytics Biotech Inc., a cancer pharmaceuticals company based in Calgary, Alberta, is one of a group of five phase 2 studies. (With Inputs from Agencies)